Derby County will be taking on Champions League opposition as part of their pre-season preparations this summer. The Ramswill be travelling to Austria for a six-day training camp between the 20th and 26th of July and during that time they will play a friendly against Russian giants Zenit St Petersburg.

It will be the first time that Andre Villas Boas will have faced English opposition since he was sacked as Tottenham Hotspur manager at the back end of 2013. Derby will go head to head with the Russian League runners-up on Tuesday 22nd July with another game scheduled for the 25th July. The opposition has yet to be announced for the second game.

It will be a big test for the Derby County players, as they will go up against players such as Hulk, Andre Arshavin, and Axel Witsel as Steve McClaren prepares his side for an assault on the Championship following last season's play-off disappointment.

Andre Villas Boas will be hoping to go one better with his Zenit side in what will be his first full season in charge with them. If he can lead Zenit to the Russian title next season then it will be his first domestic success since he left FC Porto for the Chelsea job back in 2011.

Josh McLoughlin

Josh is a 21-year-old aspiring Football journalist based in Preston/Manchester and a huge Preston North End fan. His own blog aloadofballs1.wordpress.com takes a look at many Football issues from across the world and has attracted views from all over the world, from Nepal to Peru.